DESCRIPTIVE TEXT NARRATIVE FOR SMOKE/DUST OBSERVED IN SATELLITE IMAGERY
THROUGH 0230Z July 31, 2015
SMOKE: Alaska/Yukon: The wildfires in central Alaska are producing light to moderate density smoke heading southeastward through western Yukon. The most dense smoke is covering a majority of central Alaska and heading eastwards into Yukon. Northern Canada: A small area of remnant light density smoke is seen through eastern Northwest Territories and western Nunavut heading southeastward. This area of smoke most likely originates from the Alaskan wildfires California: The wildfires from Central California are producing lots of light to moderate density smoke covering most of central and northern California heading northward into Oregon. The heaviest density smoke is associated with the northern portions of the larger area of smoke. There is also smaller patches of moderately dense smoke near the fires in the far southern California. Dust: Southern US: A large plume of dust likely originating from the Saharan Desert is seen over most of the western Gulf and moving through a majority of Texas and into portions of Oklahoma. Kemal/Heeps From Earlier SMOKE: Alaska/Yukon Territory: Mostly thin smoke from wildfires in central Alaska is seen beneath the patchy clouds and is moving east towards the Yukon Territory. A small area of embedded moderately dense smoke is also seen along the border of Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Western Canada/North Central US: Several areas of light density smoke coming from the Siberian and/or Alaskan fires are seen across portions of western and northern Canada. Some smoke may have also been produced by a handful of wildfires burning north of Great Slave Lake. Smoke extends southeast from Northwest Territories across parts of British Columbia/Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba and southwest Ontario before extending further south/southeast into the north central US. Smoke covers parts of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana as well as Lake Huron and southeast Ontario. California/Oregon/Idaho/Southwest Canada: The wildfires in the Sierra Nevada and in northwest California are producing expansive smoke plumes that are moving to the west/northwest off the Sierras and then to the north. There are fairly large areas of moderately dense smoke with most of these fires. The smoke extends north across much of west and south central Oregon. Another area of smoke likely attributable to the California wildfires is seen moving northeast across north Idaho into southwest Canada. East Canada/Northeast and Southeast US: An extensive amount of aerosol is seen across much of Quebec extending south/southeast ahead of a potent upper low and frontal boundary. This aerosol is present along/ahead of the frontal boundary southward over the entire Eastern Seaboard to the Southeast US states and coast. The most optically thick area of the aerosol is seen over the Northeast US and being pulled off the coast. Possible small areas of remnant Siberian smoke are present within this aerosol over Massachusetts/New Hampshire and south of Newfoundland. Otherwise the aerosol is thought to mostly be sulfates. DUST: Central US: Saharan dust remains across the far western portion of the Gulf of Mexico and extends north across a majority of Texas, southeast New Mexico, and into Oklahoma. Sheffler THIS TEXT PRODUCT IS PRIMARILY INTENDED TO DESCRIBE SIGNIFICANT AREAS OF SMOKE ASSOCIATED WITH ACTIVE FIRES AND SMOKE WHICH HAS BECOME DETACHED FROM THE FIRES AND DRIFTED SOME DISTANCE AWAY FROM THE SOURCE FIRE..TYPICALLY OVER THE COURSE OF ONE OR MORE DAYS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST ARE ALSO DESCRIBED. USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO VIEW A GRAPHIC DEPICTION OF THESE AND OTHER PLUMES WHICH ARE LESS EXTENSIVE AND STILL ATTACHED TO THE SOURCE FIRE IN VARIOUS GRAPHIC FORMATS ON OUR WEB SITE: JPEG: http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Products/land/hms.html GIS: http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm KML: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/kml.html ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS REGARDING THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE SENT TO SSDFireTeam@noaa.gov